New Malaria Treatment Could Cure Disease With One Dose

Researchers at the University of Capetown believe they have discovered a cure for Malaria that can work in a single dose.

The parasitic scourge responsible 1.2 million deaths every year, including about a quarter of the child mortality rate, is conventionally treated with a battery of drugs to which the mosquito-bourn disease has become resistant. But a new treatment has been shown to kill the parasite instantly in one oral dose, with no adverse side effects.

A "super pill" similar to the polio and smallpox vaccines with the potential to wipe out Malaria in short order, the new compound could also save billions currently spent on treatment. Human testing of the drug won’t begin until late 2013, so for all the buzz about this discovery, it may be a while before researchers can declare victory over malarial mosquitoes.